New Delhi: Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday held discussions with officials on introducing local cuisine from different regions on board Vande Bharat trains, with plans to extend the initiative across the railway network in the future.

What changes are planned for onboard food services?

Interacting with officials during a review meeting at Rail Bhawan here, the minister said serving regional cuisine would significantly enhance the passenger experience by offering food that reflects the culture and tastes of the areas through which the trains travel. He added that this facility would be progressively expanded to cover all trains in the future.

How is the crackdown on fake ticket bookings progressing?

Vaishnaw said the Indian Railways’ crackdown on ticket booking through fake identities was showing positive results. After the introduction of a stringent system to establish user identity and detect fake IDs, around 5,000 new user IDs are now being added daily on the IRCTC website.

Before these reforms, the number of new user IDs had reached nearly one lakh per day. The measures have already enabled Indian Railways to deactivate 3.03 crore fake accounts.

In addition, another 2.7 crore user IDs have either been temporarily suspended or identified for suspension based on suspicious activities.

What directions were given to officials?

In the presence of Minister of State Ravneet Singh Bittu, Vaishnaw directed officials to reform the ticketing system to a level where all travellers can easily book tickets using a genuine user ID.

What reforms have been introduced for Tatkal bookings?

Earlier this week, the minister informed Parliament that Aadhaar-based OTP verification for online Tatkal ticket booking is now operational in 322 trains. As a result, the confirmed Tatkal ticket availability time has increased by about 65 per cent in these trains.

Aadhaar-based OTP verification for Tatkal bookings at reservation counters has also been introduced in a phased manner and has now been implemented in 211 trains as of December 4. Owing to this, the confirmed Tatkal ticket availability time has increased in about 95 per cent of the 96 popular trains, the minister said.

What steps are being taken to verify user accounts?

Vaishnaw said rigorous revalidation and verification of user accounts had been carried out.

“About 3.02 crore suspicious user IDs have been deactivated since January 2025. Anti-bot solutions such as AKAMAI are deployed to filter non-genuine users and ensure smooth booking for legitimate passengers,” he said.